The present invention relates as indicated to a capillary disc and support therefor, and relates more particularly to a disc and support adapted to be used in a flower pot environment to improve the transfer of water from a tray or the like to the pot and thus the growing media by means of capillary action.
The utilization of capillary action to transfer moisture or water to growing media in pots is of course well known. The prior art is replete with various structures in which capillary action is employed for watering purposes. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,346,029 to Jennings, for example, a pot is shown supported above the bottom of a water-containing tray, and in one form of the invention of Jennings, a plurality of wicks extend downwardly along the sides of the pot and then through a single central opening in the bottom of the pot into contact with the water below the pot. While this arrangement might be satisfactory for plant material requiring considerable amounts of moisture, plant material, such as african violets, requiring relatively less water tend to be over-watered. Although one or more of the wicks extending along the sides of the pot can be eliminated, this necessarily results in the nonuniform movement of moisture into the interior of the pot, an obviously undesirable situation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,748 to Goldring discloses a plant watering device in which the pot fits on a pad preferably formed of plastic material which in turn is immersed in a water bath confined by a surrounding tray. The pot is formed with one or more openings in the bottom thereof, and water is transmitted by capillary action from the tray through the plastic pad and sent through the openings in the pot to provide water for the growing media. The plastic pad is encased within an annular reinforcing ring the bottom edge of which is notched at a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions to permit communication of the water with the pad. The structure of the pad and supporting ring are designed to accommodate a specific size pot, making the water arrangement difficult to adapt to pots of varying size. Moreover, should the access openings through the supporting ring become clogged, water will be unable to pass from the tray to and through the pervious plastic pad for providing moisture at the top of the pad which contacts the bottom of the pot, which is of course pervious to moisture transmission.